Question.....

[Steve and Lisa]

Well I decided to clean out the debris in our little pond bottom (leaves
etc) and when I picked up our clam it had nothing inside and chunks taken
out of it's shell. Did it die a natural death or did one of our local
creatures help it along. Also as far as we can tell we are missing 2 of the
5 pond snails. :(


Lisa

[K30a]

Hi Lisa,
I think the clam died, could be old clam age,
lack of food, water too warm, and then was eaten
by the critters whose job it is to clean up the deceased - fish, snails, zoo
plankton. The snails would munch on the shell for the minerals. As for the
missing snails, fish will eat them if they can fit them in their mouths, birds
if they can get at them and turtles.
The snails also could have gone on walk about. I had a japanese trapdoor that
made it all the way into the compost area. Some aquatic snails have to come to
the surface to breath and get 'lost' as it were and don't make it back to the
water.

k30a

[Terry]

Hi Lisa,

Unfortunately, it may forever remain a mystery. Perhaps the clam did
not have enough to eat in your pond. You didn't mention the type of
snails, but since you don't see the shells, perhaps a predator got
them.....or they wandered out of the pond.

So what is your pond like? I keep small ponds too.

Terry
www.pondsimple.com
http://go-fishnet.com